Quite often we must make decisions by looking at the balance sheet. It’s a fact of business life. But when it comes to marketing such decisions can be the death of a brand. The fact is, most marketing efforts are immeasurable before the decision.
Irish brand Waterford Crystal has just done some Balance Sheet Marketing.
A quick summary for the uninitiated:
Waterford city is the Crystal County of Ireland
Waterford has been making crystal here since 1783
Currently one fifth of their products are made in other parts of Europe
They haven’t made a profit in 5 years
They’ve just cut 500 jobs in Waterford Ireland to move all production
Their Chief executive Peter Cameron was quoted as saying, “We can source things from Eastern Europe under the Waterford fanchise. That’s not going to be an event that will change the perception of the brand”
Maybe Waterford Crystal have underestimated the emotional links passionate users have with brands.
Start up blog view:
Maybe they should charge what it costs
Maybe consumers would pay what it’s worth
Maybe they should tell consumers they must increase price or leave Waterford
Maybe ‘all’ production should be in Waterford Ireland
Maybe they should sing this fact as loud as possible
Maybe they should leverage their history a bit more
Maybe that would turn a profit
The best financial decisions protect innate brand equity, not destroy it.
marketing brings value to an organisation and therefore it should ne included into balance sheets